British drones may join international hunt for missing Nigerian schoolgirls

British drones may join international hunt for missing Nigerian schoolgirls

AMERICAN aircraft are flying over Nigeria in the search for hundreds of missing schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamist militants.

PUBLISHED: 17:04, Tue, May 13, 2014

EPA

Relatives of the girls have protested over the government's failure to rescue them

An US official said that the country had shared satellite imagery with Nigeria and was flying manned surveillance planes over the area where the girls are believed to be being held by Boko Haram.

Britain, which along with America already has teams on the ground helping with the search, may also provide drones and other surveillance, Downing Street said today.

A spokesman said that Cameron had watched recently released footage of the girls and believed that their abduction was "pure evil".

The spokesman added: "We are having discussions with the Nigerian authorities as to whether or not there may be some scope for us to have a role in terms of surveillance.

"We will want to keep ensuring that we work in a complementary fashion with other governments - the Nigerian government and other governments that are supporting their work."

Yesterday, the militants released a video apparently showing some of the kidnapped girls, and offering to return them in exchange for the release of prisoners.

Nigerian Interior Minister Abba Moro has said that swapping prisoners in exchange for girls is an option that is "not on the table".

If we conceded to an exchange, that would mean Boko Haram would just do this again and again and again

Gordon Brown

Today, former prime minister Gordon Brown urged Boko Haram to publish all the pictures of the kidnapped schoolgirls to prove they are still alive.

Mr Brown, who has been visiting Nigeria in his role as United Nations special envoy for global education, said the kidnap of the girls from their school in the north east of the country four weeks ago was "every parent's nightmare".

He called on Boko Haram to publish pictures of all the girls after the was video released by the militants claiming to show around 130 of the victims.

He told ITV's Good Morning Britain: "I would challenge Boko Haram to publish the pictures of all the girls so we can know all of them are alive.

"I would also call on every religious community to condemn Boko Haram and tell them that they cannot use girls in this way - either using them as sex slaves or threatening to forcibly convert them to Islam."

He continued: "If we conceded to an exchange, that would mean Boko Haram would just do this again and again and again, knowing that they could have immediate results from doing so.

"If we can track down and locate the girls and then release them, that would be a blow to the efforts of Boko Haram, who have killed almost 5,000 people in the last few years."

He added: "This is every parent's nightmare. My children are going to school this morning and we assume, all of us, that our children are going to be safe and they are going to return home without any danger and any risk.

"But now in Nigeria, this is an almost every-week occurrence that children are either being bombed or burned or they are being kidnapped or abducted.

"We must help the Nigerians stop this."

AP

The campaign for the safe return of the kidnapped schoolgirls has gone global